Evolution of the Prototype

Chopstick Frame

This initial prototype used 7 chopsticks in a triangle formation. It was extremely heavy and its center of gravity very far forward. It often nosedived.

Flat Skewer Frame
This frame utilized thinner skewers again in a triangle formation. Though it significantly decreased the weight of the kite, it was still quite heavy. This prototype glided approximately 17 feet. This was the furthest of all the models. However, it was not easy to control when attached to a line and flown. This prototype tended to flip upside down on its own and never readjust its self.

Dihedral Whole Skewer Frame

This prototype used the same materials as the Flat Skewer Frame. However, the horizontal cross bar in this prototype was split in half and each side was attached at an upward angle. This created a dihedral which helped the kite to readjust itself in the event that it went off balance. Having fixed the center of gravity, this frame flew similar to the final design. Though lighter than prior iterations, it was still heavier in comparison to the final frame.

Dihedral Halved Skewer Frame

The final kite’s structure is made by using bamboo skewers positioned in a triangular shape. Two overlapping skewers were used for each leg of the kite. The longest leg (the leg across the bottom) is the whole length of two skewers. To decrease the weight, the skewers were split in half vertically. Cross bars run both vertically and horizontally through the center of the kite. The horizontal cross bar was split in half and each side was attached and angle making this frame a dihedral. A recycled plastic grocery bag was used as the sail. This kite flew significantly better than the previous prototypes.

Comments

Weekly Update: Week 2

This week's lab session was dedicated to research. We did not have our materials, thus we could not start building prototypes just yet. Instead we looked into background information. We found many sites that gave us key information on how and why a kite flies. We also looked into technical kite terminology. This information helped us to understand why certain kite shapes acts the way they do. Through research, we found that the most successful indoor kites are based off of the Delta wing shape. This style of kite features a triangular shape. This shape allows the kite adjust to changes in wind. Figure 1 shows a an example of a Delta Kite. Figure 1: Example of Delta kite http://intothewind.com/delta-kites This shape maybe useful in our kite design. Our design is inspired by a flying bird. The Delta shape resembles a bird in some ways. A few modifications may be needed, but using this shape is definitely something to think about. In addition to research we also pla

Weekly Update: Week 6

This week was focused on further improving our prototype. We kept the same shape of the frame, however we spilt the skewers in half vertically, to make the kite lighter. This allowed the kite to glide further. Figure one shows the current prototype Figure 1: split skewer dihedral frame Another thing we did this week was try different plastics for the sail. We thought if we tried a stronger plastic, the kite would be stronger and more resistant to damage. The plastic we tried was thicker and stiffer than the plastic we had been using to test our prototypes. Figure two shows a comparison of the two plastics. The thinner plastic (brown) is shown on the left and the thicker plastic (white) is shown on the right. This added unnecessary weight and caused the kite to not glide as far. As a team we decided that good flight was better than strength, in this case. We took the thicker plastic off and went pack to the original thinner plastic. This is the plastic we will we use for the fina

Weekly Update: Week 4

This week was all about improving our prototype. The prototype that was made last week worked well enough but is was quite heavy. We decided to replace the chopsticks with bamboo skewers. The skewers are much lighter and happen to be a little bit longer. The basic frame of the kite stayed the same. However, the frame with the skewers did not require a second skewer to be put own the back of the center. To hold the frame together we decided to use hot glue for a stronger hold. To make the sail, we used the same type of plastic bag we used to make the sail for the previous prototype. We will start to test different plastics once we nail down a frame material and shape. This prototype worked much better than the original. It glided much better. This could be because it was much lighter. At one point we tried bending the frame. This did not work the way we had hoped. We undid it and restored the original shape. Another thing we worked on was attaching a string to the kite. At first we

grp070-11:Indoor Kite

Search This Blog